Session: 02-02 Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer in Building Applications

Paper Number: 105632

105632 - Enhancing Thermal Resistance of Building Walls by Utilizing Fluid Flow in Microchannel Within the Wall Thermal Resistance of Building Walls by Utilizing Fluid Flow in Microchannel Within the Wall 

Microchannels were initially developed for cooling electronic systems. But this innovative system

can also be deployed for enhancing thermal resistance of building walls, where they can substitute conventional insulations in building envelop that include the use of certain materials such as wool, polystyrene, wood fiber, cotton denim, and others. This article presents the modelling and simulation results on performance of microchannels in a typical building walls to provide dynamic thermal resistance for the building envelop. The simulations are performed for aluminum microchannels with air and water as the working fluid to compare the performance of the system when different fluids are utilized. The microchannels are of rectangular profile and kept with the same geometry for all the other cases to compare the results. Also, to ensure that the simulations are performed under laminar regime for both working fluids, the Reynolds number was maintained between 100 and 900 for different runs. The simulation and analysis results show that flow of a water-based fluid in microchannels has better heat transfer and heat sinking capabilities as compared to the flow of an air-based fluid. The modelling results also show microchannels can be used in building envelop to provide dynamic thermal resistance and increase the energy efficiency in different buildings.

Presenting Author: Shahin Shafiee Prairie View A&M University

Presenting Author Biography: Dr. Shafiee is currently an assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering at Prairie View A&M University. His research experience are in the broader area of thermal science with a focus on energy systems and building energy technologies. His recent projects include non-conventional refrigeration systems where he worked on metal hydride heat pumps, their operational characteristics and heat recovery as the energy source for MHHPs. He is also working on heat transfer (conduction and convection) under anomalous boundary conditions with focus on ML techniques for characterizing flow of nanofluids in microchannels and their convection heat transfer characteristics under external body forces, as well as conduction heat transfer in nanoparticles.